Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been discovered in dairy herds in Michigan and surrounding areas IdahoThis suggests the virus is spreading to new US states.
The National Veterinary Services Laboratories has confirmed the presence of avian influenza in a herd in Michigan that recently received cows from Texas, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said said on Friday. In a joint statement with the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the USDA also said presumptive positive test results were received in New Mexico, Idaho and Texas.
Similar to previous cases, the virus strain found in Michigan appears to have been introduced from wild birds, and transmission between cattle cannot be ruled out, the USDA said. Initial testing has shown no changes in the virus that would make it more transmissible to humans, and there remain no concerns about the safety of the commercial milk supply.
There are concerns that the flu has already spread across borders. Florian Krammer, professor in the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said At X that, given the bird flu cases now reported in several US states, he “wouldn’t be surprised if there were infections in cows in Europe too.”
On March 27, Mexico’s National Service for Health, Safety and Quality of Agricultural Food, known as Senasica, discovered the highly pathogenic AH5N2 avian influenza on a family farm in Michoacán state opinion from the Ministry of Agriculture.